VGTU partners with Wizz Air

2017-05-10

Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, today announced a new partnership with five universities in the region. At the press conference held today in Budapest, Wizz Air’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Diederik Pen and the representatives of Budapest University of Technology and Economics, University of Nyiregyhaza (Hungary), Chelm State School of Higher Education (Poland), Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Lithuania) and the Estonian Aviation Academy signed a Letter of Intent on the cooperation.

One of Europe’s fastest expanding airlines in a rapidly growing industry, Wizz Air is set to double its size by 2025, taking delivery of some 100 new Airbus aircraft. The company is constantly hiring aviation professionals, and the partnership with these prestigious institutions is a mutually beneficial platform for a cooperation helping WIZZ to hire young professionals with a solid educational background as well as the universities to offer their students a great career perspective.

The new partnership will provide students of the partner universities with unique opportunities to gain insight into the life of a commercial airline pilot. Furthermore, WIZZ will also offer a direct access to the airline’s recruitment process, aiming to ease the first career steps of the most talented cadets.

Speaking at the press conference in Budapest, Diederik Pen, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at Wizz Air, said: “We are delighted to announce this mutually beneficial partnership with five universities in Hungary, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania, which further underlines our commitment to hire the most dedicated talents to join Wizz Air's constantly growing, superior team. This cooperation will help us recruit the best of the best, while providing students with the opportunity to discover the WIZZ world and learn about the attractive career opportunities and training programs the airline offers to its pilots.”

Jonas Vytautas Jusionis, Director of Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU), said: “A memorandum of understanding with one of the fastest growing airlines Wizz Air is an excellent assurance to us, as a university, that VGTU graduates have internationally recognised competences and we are valued on the global market. Aviation sector is booming and agile, competitive companies are experiencing the shortage of skilled employees. We expect that by cooperating with Wizz Air we will contribute to meeting the market needs better and will continue on educating highly skilled future professionals. We are happy that the number of students in VGTU’s aviation study programmes is constantly increasing. Currently, there are 400 students at VGTU’s Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute. The institute educates young professionals in all areas of aviation and is exceptionally proud of all-time record high student numbers.”